Month: April 2012

Early Morning Alms

I am not a morning person and waking up early can be such an effort.  Laos somehow has managed to get me up at the crack of dawn, and for good reasons.  When we snuck out of our hotel’s gate fence one early January morning, the streets were still quiet with only street lamps lighting our way to Old Town, as Luang Prabang’s historic district is called. Here, the day seemed to have started already.

Villagers found their spot, kneeling on mats, waiting with a basket of sticky rice, fruits or sweets.

Vendors likewise positioned themselves near tourists, waiting for an opportunity to sell.

We sat at a corner with our camera watching the day progress.

Every morning, between 5 & 6AM, the monks of Luang Prabang’s 30 or so temples collect alms from the kneeling pilgrims and some early rising tourists.

Barefoot, they parade through the picturesque streets single file from oldest to youngest in their burnt sienna robes carrying alms bowls over their shoulder.

Alms giving have been practiced here every morning as townsfolk provide the monk’s daily sustenance for hundreds of years now.  They say that the monks are only allowed to eat food given to them in the morning of each day hence the daily ritual.

Those that give, they also say, earn merits for the good deed.

Cultural aside, this century old tradition is a spectacle on its own – waves of mandarin clad monks flood the streets contrasting the green trees and traditional white structures.  And as soon as it has started, it is over, and people start going their way.  We head for breakfast.

Café Ban Vat Sene.  We had coffee and dessert here last night and were instantly drawn to the place – the atmosphere relaxed with a Parisian café vibe.  But you see a lot of those as Luang Prabang has a natural laid-back atmosphere with a large French influence from architecture to restaurants and bakeries.  The cool January air summons us to sit outside for breakfast and watch the last of the procession.

They make wonderful French breads– baguettes, croissants, pain de campagne… with homemade jams

and a freshly brewed pot of coffee – my day has officially started.

Useful Info:

This religious ceremony is one of Luang Prabang’s major attraction, tourists must learn to be courteous and respectful of this tradition.  Please click here to know what and what not to do.

Cafe Ban Vat Sene
Open daily from 6am – 10pm
For reservations, call: +856 71 252 482
Posted on by Jenn 7

Route 13

Credits:  Papers by Creativity by Crystal’s Room Collection, Art & Soul Papers by Sahlin Studio, Story Telling Paper by Sahlin Studio.

Flying, albeit relatively expensive, is the easiest way to Luang Prabang.  But you miss all the stunning scenery along the way.  Nestled between the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, surrounded by mountains, getting there takes some effort via an 11-hour bus ride from Vientiane.  From Thailand, it’s a 2-day slow-boat.

We chose to take Route 13 because it was cheaper, the scenery – stunning and we wanted to stop at Vang Vieng even for just a day (although a day isn’t really enough).  From there, it still takes 7 hours on a meandering, poorly paved road leading to the ancient city, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The remarkable landscape makes the exhausting experience worthwhile.

We break the trip for lunch and there I had my bowl of delightful beef noodle soup as I had planned, remembering how good that bowl of soup was in 2007.  Lining up for that bowl, I watched with interest how they assembled the dish right before us.  First the fresh noodles, then the beef, the vegetables and at the end of the line sits a huge pot of soup ever so gently simmering under a slow fire.  The lady ladled up soup almost to the brim and handed it to me.

I devoured it with gusto.  It was as I remembered it to be, pretty damn good soup.

From that time till we reached Luang Prabang, we stopped a couple of times.  The entire bus tensed up when we realized that it was having problems with its brakes

– made even scarier when the air became dense with fog, which kept me awake and praying the rest of the trip.  We inched our way to the city and finally breathed a sigh of relief when we saw signs of city lights just around the bend.

It took us nine hours… but all is well that ends well.  Luang Prabang is worth it, I promise.

Not far from our nice little boutique hotel, just across The Apsara, is a sidewalk eatery I stumbled upon on my earlier trip.

It serves a mean Laotian-style BBQ that is a much like but not quite shabu-shabu.

It’s a cross between that and a Korean BBQ where the meat is grilled on the griddle while the soup is simmering on the same griddle.  As the meat cooks, the fatty juices drips on to the soup and I don’t have to tell you how divine that soup gets the longer it simmer and the more drippings it gets from the meat.  Brilliant.

And just like that, Luang Prabang has charmed me once more, today’s dreadful last stretch erased.

Getting There:  Click here for more options.

Posted on by Jenn 2

Soaring High in Vang Vieng

With most of Vang Vieng still asleep, we sauntered down before the break of dawn to the hotel lobby half asleep ourselves.  The ride came at 6 in the morning as promised and drove us to an empty lot where another vehicle with the basket and balloon arrived almost the same time.

They flipped the basket sideways, inflated the balloon with a giant fan and simultaneously flames it to give out that required hot air.

“You’re taking the VIP ride”, said a Chinese man in a coat to us.  Essentially, he meant that the basket can fit 4 but with no one else booked, the basket was ours for the next 40 minutes.  With their GPS and radios checked, we were asked to climb in.

By now Vang Vieng was waking up.

The balloon slowly lifted us up allowing us a bird’s eye view of this picturesque town.

With the air still misty, the mountain peaks looked mystical, like a painting almost.

The rice fields stretches out of the town and into the foothills.

The Namsong River beautifully snakes through Vang Vieng, manifesting its charm even more.

From the top, we see that the empty lot is actually the old airstrip and close to it is the road leading to Luang Prabang.

The beauty of Vang Vieng so captivated me; I forget that I was afraid of heights.  Tranquility fused with a rush of adrenalin was an experience unlike any I’ve had.

Hot Air Ballooning over Vang Vieng seemed to have blown away the cloud looming the town lately.

On the bus to Luang Prabang later that morning, I take one last look and say adieu to a town I have, in less than a day, become enchanted with.

Useful Info:

The Ballooning Company
Ban Vang Vieng, Laos PDR
+856-20-9691-8111
email: info@laoballooning.com
website: http://www.laoballooning.com
Posted on by Jenn 10

Fun and Frolic at the River Namsong

Credits:  Papers by Jessica Sprague (Bright Stripes paper), Carina Gardner (Coqu flirt 16), ITM Tricolor (Red tiny dot), QQ Knotty Girl papers; Elements by Carina Gardner (daisy paper bits)

Once a peaceful and quiet town, Vang Vieng used to appeal only to adventure travelers wanting to rock climb, explore caves or to simply enjoy its tranquil surroundings, its people and culture.

Surrounded with striking karst rock formation, the Namsong runs through it contributing to its serene setting.

Since the launch of inner tubing in the mid-2000, the quiet town of Vang Vieng has never been quite the same.

The Namsong now appeal to “partying” backpackers.

The town today is most know for “tubing” down the Namsong and with it came

many bars along the riverbanks catering to those floating downstream either in rubber tubes or on a kayak.

The townsfolk once farmers are now owners of bars and guesthouses – predominantly made up of chill-out bars and dance shacks all offering cheap booze,

some offering more thrills in the form of swings and ziplines.

Along with the bars, lodgings of various types line both sides of the riverbanks.

A short afternoon cruise up and down the river on a motorized boat reveal all these.  It is the easiest way to watch the goings on around the river.

Foreigners partying or simply floating down the river dominate local scenes along the river.

The “party” scene may have appealed to me years ago but today, I prefer the relaxed atmosphere of the down river part of the Namsong.

Watching the sunset over cocktails after a long day is my idea of a good time.

This looks like fun… so we booked a sunrise ride over Vang Vieng on a Hot Air Balloon… on my next post.

Posted on by Jenn 3

Road to Vang Vieng

Credits:  Papers by Crystal Wilkerson’s Room Collection series, Kaboks’ Christmas Treasure Papers; Photomask by Moninda.

A tuk-tuk picked us up at the hotel and brought us to a VIP bus parked along the Mekong River bank opposite Wat Chanh temple.  Before entering, we were asked to take off our shoes and were given a plastic bag to store them in the meantime.  The bus, like most lodgings and households in Laos, is a no-shoes zone.  Although lined with linoleum and seemingly clean enough, I felt strange and a bit grossed out walking barefooted.  But with the current seating, er… bunking arrangement, it was better this way.

The bus had double-decked bunk beds instead of seats.  I reached the end and it was all taken.  What’s going on?  Were we on the wrong bus perhaps?  It seemed like they were out of space, then I heard the conductor shout, “two in a bunk!” Are you kidding me?  These are made for size 0 petites, not the likes of us.  A couple occupying a bunk each gave one up and we thankfully took it.  At first we didn’t know how to go about it until the couple figured it out.  Facing each other, we sat uncomfortably for the next 4 hours.

Two hours down, we stopped for lunch.  Choices of sandwiches similar to Vietnam’s Banh Mi  was lunch for us.

I had a simple but pretty good canned tuna with mayo on a baguette.

At the Vang Vieng bus station two hours later, we made sure to get a proper bus particularly since we will be on the road for 6-7 hours.  Pointing to a photo of a bus with seats, we asked if there were seats available for the next day.  The lady nodded and asked, “what time?”  “10AM for the express bus to Luang Prabang, please.”

After the purchase, we got onto a jeep provided by the bus company that brought us to town.

Vang Vieng is a small tourist-oriented town about 150km north of Vientiane in Vientiane Province. It has only 3 streets, a market, a bus station and a few temples.  Before we even know it, we were on the main street in town.  We could have actually walked to town.

Small it may be but Vang Vieng is bursting with natural beauty.  The small town is beside a river and a picturesque backdrop of limestone karst surrounds it.  Mainly a backpacker’s hotspot until the mainstream travelers caught on a few years back.  Many are breaking a 10-hour road trip to Luang Prabang here, staying a couple of days to explore its natural wonders.  We had the same idea but didn’t have enough days to stay longer.  Wish we had.

In a quieter part of the Namsong River, a fair distance down river from the bars famous with the backpackers is The Elephant Crossing Hotel.  It is an easy walk from the main street even with backpacks in tow.

Because it situated on the banks of the Namsong River, the view was spectacular, but I guess anything along the riverbank would boast of the same breathtaking views.

All 31 rooms of the 4-storey boutique hotel were designed to have a private balcony

overlooking Vang Vieng’s famous majestic limestone mountains.

Their riverside restaurant was calling out to us, and there we whiled the time away with some spring rolls, a few bottles of beer and a lot of river actions.

We could sit there and watch the day go by, truth to tell, if only we had more days to spare.

Useful Info:

Buses to Vang Vieng:  Tickets can be purchased at almost every guesthouses, hotels or even travel operators.  This should already include transport to the bus station.  Several types of buses to choose from:
 
Local Buses — slower without air conditioning. Journey takes at least 5 hours.  Cost: 40,000 Kip (US$ 5)
VIP Buses — run by Malany Bus Company (856-23) 51-1633 and Thavonsouk Bus Company.  Departs 10AM and 2PM.  Journey takes about 4 hours.  Cost: 50,000 Kip (US$ 6)
AC Minivans —   Leaves as soon as it is full and is the most convenient and comfortable transport.  Cost: 70,000-80,000 Kip. (US$ 9)
 
 
Elephant Crossing Hotel:
Ban Viengkeo, Vang Vieng District
Vientiane, Lao PDR
(856-23) 51-1232

Posted on by Jenn 12